In modern production processes, a prominent role is played by information systems that can process process data for the eventual product such that the processed data can be used to control production equipment, since most production processes feature many automated steps. The equipment required for the automation, however, needs control data that can control the apparatus and devices accordingly. This is the case in many technical areas.
One example of a corresponding production process is that of typographical products, where the typographical product, such as a book, brochure, a poster and the like, is designed with the aid of software. The software serves to generate control data for printing equipment, which in the simplest case may be a printer, which prints out the typographical product, such as the brochure or poster. However, the automation achievable with the software and the printer is economic only if a large number of corresponding typographical products are produced. This applies in the same way to all other cases of automation. In this regard, it is possibly uneconomic for a user to invest in automation technology for isolated cases.
In many areas, this is remedied by professional service providers who bundle jobs from many clients and thereby attain the critical mass for economic use of the automation technology. This means, however, that the design of the product has to be surrendered to a service provider, a fact which can lead to unsatisfactory results or may generate additional effort during information transfer.
For this reason, various areas of technology employ systems in which service providers supply product-design software to users for free that enable the users to design the products themselves. One example of this is the individual production of typographical products, in which the service provider or manufacturer supplies corresponding software for designing the typographical work to the user for free, with the user being able to obtain the finished product only from that software provider after he or she has designed the product. However, this places substantial restrictions on the realization or implementation of the product.